Hans Grundberg

Sources on both sides told AFP that about 80 combatants were killed in a single day around Taiz.

The United Nations Population Fund said more than 145,000 people had been displaced, and the UN Special Envoy Hans Grunberg warned of grave risks to civilians.

Yemen's military claimed it killed or wounded more than 1,500 Houthi fighters in one day of operations, an unverified claim from one side.

Inside Saudi Arabia, the coalition said a Houthi drone struck an electricity station in Medina that supplies the Prophet's Mosque, taking one transformer out of service without affecting the wider grid.

Yemen's fragile truce is under fresh strain as fighting intensifies along the Red Sea coast, raising new concerns about regional security and shipping.

United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg met Houthi negotiators and Saudi officials seeking to prevent further escalation.

The renewed battles have displaced thousands and threaten a waterway carrying a large share of global trade.

Chris Anderson reporting.

Qatari mediator Ali Al-Thawadi spent several hours with Arachi's team in New York on a two-page compromise that tried to bridge Iran's demand that the American naval blockade be lifted and Washington's demand for nuclear concessions.

Al-Thawadi then met in Washington with President Trump's envoy Jared Kushner and other officials, and Vice President J.D. Vance sat in for part of the session.

One source told Axios, it is stuck.

The same report said Pakistan and Egypt had urged Iran to accept nuclear concessions and that Tehran answered it would consider them only after Washington agreed to return to the June memorandum.

The group captured Mocha, Dubab, and Param Island this month, giving it command of Yemen's west coast and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, according to Al Jazeera.

Pakistan's defense minister, Khawaja Asif, said in Rome that any enemy of Saudi Arabia is enemy of Pakistan and that Pakistan's military means would be available to Riyadh under the Mecca Defense Pact, though he did not confirm any Pakistani role in strikes.

The United Nations envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called the escalation dramatic and said attacks on Red Sea shipping should concern the Security Council.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan was in Washington meeting Rubio and senators, while the United Arab Emirate Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed held talks with the Saudi Crown Prince in Riyadh.

What we have witnessed these last couple of weeks inside Yemen has been unprecedented in terms of the seriousness of the escalation.

The UN's Hans Grunberg

says his meeting with the Houthis chief negotiator aimed to avoid seeing the current escalation go even further.

The conflict has intensified with the Houthis capturing strategic areas and attacking Saudi oil facilities.

The United Nations has warned that more than 130,000 people in Yemen have now been displaced by the conflict.

Hans Grunberg is the UN Special Envoy for Yemen.

I spoke to him earlier.

Hans Grunberg, how concerned are you about the situation in Yemen right now?

Well, needless to say, I'm very concerned.

I'm deeply concerned because what we see right now is that we are seeing a country that has for the last four years experienced relative calm and now suddenly is thrown back into what I think can be considered as something in between full-scale war or large-scale conflict.

And that, I think, is one of the real tragedies here.

You're listening to Radio National Breakfast.

Government sources said five of those strikes targeted the Bab al-Mandab area alone.

Meanwhile, Sanaa says it told the UN envoy, Hans Grundberg, that it remains ready for peace and stressed that navigation through Bab al-Mandab is safe.

The UN says it's continuing efforts to reduce tensions and bring the parties back to the political process.

Ahab Alfandi, CGTN, Sanaa.